Michael was born in August 1962 at Osborne Park. Along with his seven brothers and sisters, he became an open case with the Department for Community Welfare in November 1963. From that date he never lived with his mum and dad again. Over the next 15 years Michael spent more than seven years in eight different government and religious institutions, and was placed with over 12 different foster families. In 1975 Michael became the youngest child in WA to be placed in locked care, and spent the longest period of time in the reformation centre called Hillstone Boys Home in Stoneville. In 1978 at the age of 15, Michael ran away and went to live in northern Australia. He returned to WA in about 1980 and was once again placed in locked care. Unfortunately the lessons Michael had learned meant that at the age of 18 he transitioned straight to the adult custodial system and spent the next five years going in and out of WA prisons. According to Michael, his early adult life was pretty tough and he spent long periods of time being unemployed. In 1991 Michael decided that he needed an education and worked hard to gain university entrance. In 1993 he commenced an undergraduate degree at Murdoch University and in 1995 started volunteering with the Youth Activities Program run by the then Department of Family and Children Services at the Keith Maine Youth Camp in Whiteman Park. Since 1995 Michael has worked in the social services. He has held senior positions in both local and non-government organisations, and currently runs a medium sized not-for-profit organisation in Broome. Michael has a good knowledge of support models for an array of service types designed to target a range of client groups, and has worked with at risk youth for over 15 years. In a previous position, Michael played a key role in securing out-of-home care funding from the then named Department for Child Protection. He believes he has a reasonable understanding of WA’s out-of-home care system, along with its range of services and therapeutic support models.